The Pen is Mightier
by LuckyNumbers
Summary: Ayame Susumu decided to write about what she thinks happened to her mother's best friend. She didn't know it was real. When she decided to start writing the continuation, she was whisked away to the place she thought existed only in her stories.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne**

"Ayame, are you going to the newspaper club today?" Mei asked. She was Ayame's good friend and co-editor of their high school's newspaper.

Ayame Susumu, who, until that moment, had been writing in her notepad, accidentally snapped her pen, and splattered ink all over herself and looked up at her friend.

"Mei," she whined. "You broke my concentration!"

"Yeah, but you broke your pen," Mei laughed.

Ayame looked down at her shirt. "Aw, man! That's going to take forever to get out!" She looked up at her friend. "And I wasn't planning on going to the newspaper club anyway. My parent's are going out tonight and they want me to watch Hana."

"That sucks," said Mei. "I would hate having to watch a little baby all night."

"You _could_ offer to help me with her, you know," Ayame hinted not-too-subtly.

"No can do, girl," said Mei. "I've got a date with Kenji tonight." She pretended to weigh the options in her hands. "So, would I rather be watching a baby all night or go have fun with and incredibly hot guy? I choose the hot guy!"

"Mei, I'm surprised at you! I thought that you would be there for your friend," Ayame replied in a false hurt tone.

"You know me better!" Mei laughed. She began to walk off. "Have fun with the screaming baby tonight. Maybe you should tell her a story or something!"

"Yeah, see you later," Ayame said. She picked up her stuff and jammed it in her backpack before proceeding to walk home.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Ayame called when she opened her door to her house.

Her mother walked up to hug her. She acted the same way when Ayame came home ever since she started walking by herself. Apparently, it was because she saw her friend disappear, and so she was afraid that her daughter would leave the house and never come back.

It didn't make any sense to Ayame why her mother acted like that but not her father. They had apparently both been friends with the girl who disappeared.

When she was younger, she used to believe their stories that the girl had been taken away not once, not twice, but three times from Earth via a pillar of blue light and a mysterious dark haired boy. When she got older, she would ask them what really happened, but for some reason, even though she was a teenager, they would stick to that story, though she was sure that the story they told her had just as much credibility as the story that the stork brought babies to parents.

"Ayame," her mother said after she finally let go of her. "Your shirt is stained. What happened?"

"My pen broke?" she explained, though it came out more like a question than a statement, as this had happened so often.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "You should probably stop using pens," her mother told her. "You'd ruin fewer shirts."

"Pencils smudge and fade easier," Ayame complained. "I'd never be able to make out older stories!"

"Well, I can't say I understand your fixation with stories," her mother shrugged, "but I guess this is what you like."

Ayame nodded. "Well, I'm going to go do my homework," she said, turning in the direction of her room.

Her mother smiled.

In truth, Ayame had finished all of her homework at school that day. She sat down at her desk and took out her notebook and a new pen. She put the pen to the page and began to write again.

Of course, she believed none of what her parents said about a beam of light from the sky and a mysterious boy taking their friend away, but lately, it had been going through her dreams.

It wasn't just the beam of light, either. She was dreaming about a different world. In her dreams, she seemed to know it as Gaea. She always hated to wake up from these dreams. They were always filled with magic, adventure and (she had no idea where her subconscious had thought this up) giant robots.

The dreams were so thrilling that she just _had_ to write them down.

She was actually amused at herself. Her story not only entailed all of that, but it even used the myth of Atlantis.

Well, she thought, a little Greek mythology never hurt anyone, did it?

What she surprised herself with was her putting Issac Newton as the main villain of it all. She wasn't sure where she thought that up. It must have been when she had stayed up all night with Mei the week before, but when she put it on paper, it seemed to fit.

She had just finished the conclusion that had her parent's friend, Hitomi Kanzaki, finally leaving for the third time with her love, Van Fanel, when her father knocked on the door.

"Ayame, your mother and I are leaving now, alright?" he asked.

"Okay, Dad," she said, not really listening. She had heard it before, and she knew what he was saying.

"We'll be home around midnight," he continued. "If Hana wakes up, her bottle is in the refrigerator, and the emergency numbers are on the counter."

"I got it, Dad," she replied.

"I'll see you later," he said. "I love you."

"Love you too," she said back. She would not have known that he left the room had she not heard the door close.

She was focusing at a fresh page of her notebook. There was another story forming in the back of her mind, but it was quite incomplete. She had no idea where to begin.

Just then, Hana started crying from the other room. Ayame picked up her notebook and pen and went into the other room. She placed them on the rocking chair and went over to the crib.

She picked up her little sister and started rocking her back and forth in her arms.

"Come on," she said. "Please stop crying!"

It took a while before Hana finally calmed down. Ayame turned back to the rocking chair and sat there to write. She thought that it would be the best place to be if Hana started crying again.

She stared at the page. A beginning for the continuation had just come to her.

_But Gaea was restless. The peace it was holding between nations would not be there for much longer. Therefore, the powers that created that world decided that they needed another to help it once more. For the first time in years, the pillar of light descended upon Earth._

No sooner had Ayame finished that sentence than the room had filled with a blue light.


	2. A NotSoWarm Welcome

**Disclaimer: I only own the characters I made up.**

Ayame blinked and took in her surroundings. She seemed to be lying on a forest floor. Her memories of what happened were fuzzy. A blue light and floating upward were all that registered in her mind, but she had to have gotten there _somehow_.

Sitting up and looking around, she realized that she still had her notebook with her. That was about it, though.

She stood up and brushed herself off, but she froze when she heard the sounds of horses and voices.

"Folken, you shouldn't run off like that," it was a man's voice. He was definitely the father to this "Folken" person, if how her dad spoke was anything to go by.

"I'm sixteen, I can take care of myself," the boy called Folken replied. The voices were getting closer now.

"I don't care," the man told him. "These forests are full of dragons, you know that. Your mother was getting worried."

_Did he just say "dragons"?_ thought Ayame. That was _not_ good. She tried to keep from making any noise to alert the two men (or any dragons nearby) to her presence, but she couldn't stifle the small cry that escaped her lips.

"Did you hear that?" the boy asked. There were now sounds of the horses advancing toward her.

Ayame's first instinct was to hide, but the closest place was behind a tree. It wasn't much, but it was wide enough for her to hide behind. She edged toward it slowly as two men riding horses came through the brush. She got behind it just in time.

"That's strange," said the boys voice one more. "I could have sworn I heard something, like a person."

"The forest is full of creatures," said his father, dismissively. "It was probably just an animal. Come now, we need to head back. There are several influential people from Asturia who have come to visit. It would be best for you to get used to meeting people like this, you know."

Ayame was sure that she heard a groan from the boy and wondered just who he was to be meeting important people.

It was strange. That was the second name she had heard from the two men that she recognized. "Folken" and "Asturia" were both prevalent in the story she had written about her mother's friend. What was going on?

Eventually, she heard the two horses go off into the opposite direction of where she was, and she came out from behind the tree.

_Alright, the first thing I need to do is find out where I am,_ she thought. That, of course, would be hard, as she had no recollection of anything that looked like this forest. She also did not have a map, which made it even more difficult to find anything. She decided to go in the way that she heard the man and his son go. After all, if they were going that way, then she was _bound_ to hit something, right?

She shrugged and started walking in the way she thought was the right way to go. Surely she would run into someone after a while; she just needed to figure out what she was going to say.

After a while of walking, Ayame was still no closer than any sort of civilization. She scolded herself for hiding when those two men came close to where she was. She could have gotten a ride to the nearest city and asked where she was. Unfortunately, she panicked and hid. She now realized what a stupid idea that was.

Suddenly, a strange noise snapped her out of her reverie. Behind her, she could hear the footsteps of something very large along with a loud hissing noise.

She slowly turned around to see some sort of large reptile. It was only then that she remembered that man talking about dragons.

In a panic, she picked up the largest stick she could find. She had no idea if it would help, but perhaps it would help make her look threatening.

"S- stay back!" she yelled at it, but apparently, she was not convincing. She began waving the stick around as if it was a sword, but that only appeared to have made it angry.

The dragon swung one of its huge, clawed front feet at her. In a rush that only pure adrenaline could have given her, she got mostly out of the way, but it still managed to cut a long gash into her right arm.

Ayame gave a loud scream and began to run. The unfortunate thing was that she was quite clumsy going through a thick forest at that speed and she had never inherited either of her parents' knacks for running. She wasn't going to be able to keep this up forever. How long was it going to be before she fell or couldn't run any longer?

The former came first. Because she wasn't looking at the ground, she tripped over a rather large root. Trying to get herself up to once again try to escape the approaching dragon, she noticed that her leg now shook violently if she tried to put pressure on it. She had sprained her ankle, and the best he could do was hobble a few steps before she fell again.

The dragon had slowed its approach. Ayame knew that this was quite possibly the end. The pain in her arm and leg had long since assured her that this was no dream, and she knew that she might never see her mother or father or baby sister again.

She covered her face with her hands. Surely it would happen in a short amount of time.

Ten seconds… Thirty seconds… One minute…

Why was nothing happening?

Looking through her fingers, she saw the dragon retreat. Why was it retreating?

The back of her mind referenced this to the story she wrote, but she put that thought away. The important thing was to find help, and she couldn't even walk anymore.

She began yelling, hoping to attract the attention of someone.

"Help!" she called. "Anybody! Please!"

She might have been calling for a cloud to come save her for all the good yelling did, she figured.

She was just about to give up when she heard the approach of horses.

She heard the "Thump!" of someone falling to the ground, possibly dismounting.

"Hello?" called a male voice.

Ayame recognized it instantly. It was that boy from before!

"Over here!" she yelled back. She only just realized how weak she sounded.

The boy rushed over. He saw her lying on the ground, bruised and bloodied. "Do you need help?" he asked.

Ayame looked at him. She fought the urge to yell at him for asking such an obvious question. He did look genuinely concerned. "In a word, yes," she finally said, settling on a bit of sarcasm.

He quickly bent down to rip some cloth from the bottom of one of his pant legs. He wrapped it around her bleeding arm.

"My name is Folken Blagus de Fanel," he introduced himself.

"Ayame Susumu," she replied. She found herself losing consciousness. The effects of the adrenaline, so intent on keeping her awake until she was found, were wearing off.

"I'm here to help you, Ayame," were the last words she heard before everything went black.


	3. What's Going On?

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned this, but I don't.**

**By the way, did anyone notice how the last few lines in the last chapter were almost a direct lift from the first ****Pirates of the Caribbean**** movie? That was SO not intentional!**

It was the second time that Ayame had woken up in an unfamiliar place.

This time, however, when she opened her eyes, she was in a very comfortable bed. Upon opening her eyes, she saw a very beautiful woman with brown hair and green eyes sitting in a chair beside her bed.

"Oh, good, you're up," the woman said. "You gave us quite a scare for a while, there."

"Where am I?" Ayame asked, propping herself up on her elbows. She noticed that the arm the dragon nearly sliced open was bandaged and had that annoying itch that told her it was healing.

"You happen to be in Fanelia," the woman told her.

"That can't be right."

"Why not?" the woman asked; though, she didn't seem surprised at Ayame's reaction.

"Well, it doesn't exist!" Ayame exclaimed.

"I know how you feel. When I first came here, I didn't think that it could be real. It all seemed like a dream or one of those visions I had been having recently."

_Wait a minute,_ Ayame thought. _That sounds familiar._ She decided to take a chance and ask, "You wouldn't happen to be Hitomi Kanzaki, would you?"

"Yes," answered the woman who was now identified as Hitomi.

"I'm Ayame Susumu," Ayame told her, now excited. If this was all real (which Ayame was still not sure about), then this was her parents' best friend. And if she was in Fanelia, the story she had written was (somehow) true!

"Susumu," she heard Hitomi whisper. "Your father isn't Amano Susumu, is he?"

Ayame nodded. "And my mother's name is Yukari."

"So they got married," Hitomi said, more to herself than anything else. She smiled. "I can't say I'm surprised. Still, when they told me that Folken had found a girl from Earth, I never suspected that you would be the daughter of two of my school friends."

Ayame wanted to say to say that the last thing she expected was to be transported to a world she thought only existed in a story that she had written and meet the woman she had actually written about, but she decided to refrain. It would probably come out too sarcastic, and if her thoughts were correct, Hitomi was the Queen of Fanelia, and it would be a bit disrespectful. So what she said instead was, "How long have I been asleep?"

"It's been a day since Folken found you lying on the forest floor with a swollen ankle and a long gash in your arm," Hitomi answered. Ayame nodded, though she was quite surprised to hear that it was that long. "You are very lucky that you survived a dragon attack with such minimal damage. We have some visitors from Astoria, and one of them is a good friend of mine and an excellent doctor. She fixed you right up."

"Oh, I would like to thank her, then."

"That's good," Hitomi smiled. "I was going to invite you to dinner tonight, anyway." Ayame's eyes turned wide. She had a pretty good idea of who exactly was going to be at this dinner, and she knew that she had nothing to wear. "If you're worried about your clothes," the Queen said, as if reading the young girl's mind, "I can have a dress sent to you."

"You really don't have to do that," Ayame said, feeling that this was much more than she needed.

"You are a guest," Hitomi insisted. "I promise that no one will mind."

"Are you sure?"

"If they are not, I will make sure that they will be. I can be very persuasive." She laughed as if it were her own private joke. In a way, Ayame understood, because who would be stupid enough to speak out against a personal guest of the Queen? There was a pause before she spoke again. "By the way," she said, going over to a table and picking something up, "we had some people search the forest after they brought you back here. They found this." She showed the object to Ayame who immediately recognized it.

"That's my journal," she murmured.

"I figured as much," Hitomi said. "I'm the only one who can read, as everyone seems to say, 'Mystic Moon writing', no one else knows what is in here. I'm curious to know how you know all this, however."

"I just wanted to write a story," the girl admitted. "Part of it, the part where you disappear from the high school track in a beam of light, is just from what my parents told me. I stopped believing it after a while, but I thought it would make a good story if I could think of where to go with it."

"These details about the Destiny War are extremely accurate," Hitomi said, "even down to Atlantis and Emperor Dornkirk's true identity. How did you find this out? Have you had any dreams or visions?"

Ayame knew why the Queen was asking this, as she knew that Hitomi was a seer of sorts.

"No," she answered truthfully. "It just seemed right at the time. I only just finished the story about what happened to you. Then, I started writing the sequel, and I ended up here."

"So, you wrote about the beam of light coming to Earth, and it did?"

"Pretty much."

"Interesting." Hitomi muttered. "Well, Miss Ayame, it seems as if there is a lot of things we need to figure out. No one ever comes to Gaea without a purpose."

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Ayame said.

"Of course you do," the Queen rebutted. "It's all written down in your journal. It started out with my grandmother, and then it was me, and now you. We all came to Gaea for some reason, and then we left when it was finished."

"But you came back."

"Well, I found a reason to come back," she said. "And it's not something I can just finish. Now, I think that since you have been lying in bed for so long, you would like to get up. Would you like me to show you around the palace?"

Ayame deliberated for a moment. "Are- are you allowed to do that?"

"I _am_ the Queen," she said, a smile of near victory coming over her face. "I can do whatever I please. Now, of course you can't walk about the palace in those bed clothes. I shall call for a maid to bring you a dress, and then I can show you around."

"Thank you very much, Queen Hitomi," Ayame said.

"Oh, come now, we'll have none of that," Hitomi laughed. "You don't have to be so formal. Us Mystic Moon girls have to stick together, right?"

"Uh, sure?"


End file.
